Google Cardboard VR Kit for under $15

Craving some virtual reality goodness? Unsure of Oculus after Facebook purchased them? Well — why not make your own then!

At last weeks Google I/O conference, those lucky enough to attend received the Google Cardboard VR kit. It’s basically just a piece of cardboard, two lenses, a few magnets, an NFC tag and some velcro — but when you slide your phone into it and download the Cardboard app — you have virtual reality, on your phone.

This inspired [Wolfgang] to make his own variation of this, except instead of a phone, it fits a tablet much nicer. It really is just a cardboard box with the lenses glued in place — but it works! Of course you could 3D print a nice housing — but if you’re super excited to try out some VR apps — cardboard will do the trick as well!

Same – nexus 7 2012? But some of the apps mentioned (walk in Tuscany) wprk fine. To test without messingaboutcutting cardboard I just held my tablet at ~40cm and squinted untill the two images overlapped – works great if you don’t mind looking a bit idiotic :p

On my Galaxy S4 mini the lag is actually pretty small so that moving your head around greatly participates to the immersive feeling, in complement to the stereo. Very impressive.
The only feature I miss is the selection of the inter-pupil distance, otherwise your smartphone screen will dictate it.

I bought my son Hasbro My3D for his iPod touch. They were on sale at WalMart for $4. He doesn’t use it, but I did experiment with my Samsung S3 and the unit and saw potential. I have yet to do anything with that potential (time, is never on my side). But thanks to your pointing out Cardboard, I’ll get some use out of it yet. Danke.